Matthew 4:12-23

Matthew 4:12-23 Susan J. Barnes
St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Austin 27 January 2002

From now until Advent begins in December, except for the season of Lent and Easter, we will be reading our way through the gospel of our patron saint, Matthew. Those of you who are relatively new to the Episcopal church may not know about the way our Sunday readings are assigned. Every Advent we move step along a three-year cycle: years called A, B, and C. Each year focuses on one of the three synoptic gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Selections from John are interspersed in all three, especially in Holy Week and Easter. In December we began year A, which is Matthew's year.
This is very exciting for me--and I hope you will bear with me—because three years ago, when we last read Matthew, I was sitting where you are today. Having begun to study and preach the other three gospels I feel at least acquainted with them; Matthew is new terrain. The more familiar we get with the New Testament, the more intriguing the differences between the gospels become. Scholars propose that those differences mean each was written in a distinct place and for a precise community of believers.
According to some, Luke's gospel was written for a Gentile community, for instance. John's gospel is thought to have come from a group that had left or been forced out of their Jewish community over their belief in Jesus as the Messiah; that's because the gospel's incessant anti-Jewish rhetoric is seen as the vitriol of the rejected, broken-hearted. Similarly, Matthew's gospel always targets Jewish authorities, the Pharisees and scribes.
We don't really know what these things signify, but we do know that there are differences in structure, and in voice between all four gospels. That makes sense, doesn't it? If any four of us were to tell the same story, it would sound different because of the ways we understood it--our personal interpretations of the meaning. We would be making sense of it for ourselves and for our audience.
I love the different voices, different personalities, of the writers. Next year at this time we will be racing with Mark through Jesus life: in that tightly-edited text Jesus moves "immediately" from one episode to the next. Last year we got to dwell in Luke's poetry and appreciate his bent for historic detail, for narrative transitions, and for tying up loose ends. That's why I personally rejoice that we have four gospels, each of which gives us another window on the infinite mystery of God incarnate.
Reading as we do through one whole gospel and getting one a bit at a time on Sunday, we may it's easy for us to miss the nuances between them,. But it’s good to listen for them and try to imagine what they meant in their original context. . Above all, we must avoid misunderstanding and mis-using them now. Christians must never forget that the anti-Jewish insults of Matthew and John were the forged in a family quarrel two thousand years ago--they were Jewish followers of Christ dissing Jews who weren't. One analogy might be what warring Scottish clans in the 18th century could have said about each other. But, because they were in Scripture--Holy Writ--these same words were used to justify centuries of anti-Semitism including the horrors of the Inquisition and the Holocaust. We'll talk more about that when the texts come up.
As in Luke, Matthew's account of Jesus' miracles was based on Mark's. But Matthew's structure is interestingly different from the other two gospels. In Mark and Luke, Jesus comes back from the temptation in the wilderness and goes right to work healing the sick. Traveling with the disciples, he moves quickly--even restlessly--from place to place. In Mark and Luke, Jesus leaves his home region of Galilee to minister in neighboring lands; in fact, ironically, it is those foreigners, Gentiles like the Syrophoenician woman who recognize him as the Messiah, while his countrymen, including the disciples, don't get it. Only later on the journey toward Jerusalem, does Jesus slow down and teach the disciples.

In Matthew, it's just the opposite. Jesus comes back from the Temptation, and after calling disciples he settles into teaching them for an extended period, chapters five through seven. It's as though the disciples in Mark and Luke had to rely on on the job training, but in Matthew they got an intensive course first, to get the picture clearly before setting out on the journey of discipleship. In the coming weeks we will get it, too. We will hear Jesus' extended teaching on the Kingdom of Heaven. We'll get the demanding details on the way that we--as his disciples--must live to be worthy of that calling.

Another interesting change in Matthew is that until Jesus moves toward his destiny in Jerusalem at the end of the Gospel, his ministry takes place entirely in the Galilee. Many of you will have noticed this when you read through the gospels, but it was news to me. The miracles that take place in Samarian or Judean towns in Mark and Luke are not located there in Matthew. This is not particularly important in terms of the contents of the miracles, or even the ethnic diversity of the people whom Jesus healed. What Isaiah called "Galilee of the Gentiles," was still a cosmopolitan place in Roman times with a couple of large new cities and active trade. Jesus didn’t have to go to the foreigners; they came to him.

A strictly Galilean ministry was potentially less itinerant and far flung. The Galilee is relatively small. If they chose Jesus and the disciples could return frequently to Capernum which Matthew hints may have been a kind of home base for them. Some of their excursions may even have been day-trips

This is just speculation on my part, of course, but I think it has timely implications for this congregation just now.

Let me explain. Lately, you have been reading and hearing a lot about foreign missions going out of St. Matthew’s (or I hope that you have!) And in the next couple of weeks you’ll hear even more as we line up the last volunteers and gather our final donations. Foreign mission trips get attention for lots of reasons. First we have to drum up participation and support. Also, they are exciting because they are out of the ordinary. Going abroad we step outside of our routines. We get to leave our daily responsibilities behind and focus on a project for a block of time. Some people love stepping out of their comfort zone. Others—like me--find it challenging, and ultimately rewarding. Still others won’t undertake it at any cost.

Jesus said to the disciples, "Follow me." Then—no matter which gospel you read--by word and example, he showed them what that meant. He ministered to God’s people in need—wherever he found them, regardless of their religion, race or class.

Next month, two groups from this congregation will follow Jesus, ministering in Juarez and Honduras. This summer the Senior high youth will follow Jesus ministering again in Juarez and the Jr. High will do so in Dallas.

But like the disciples in Matthew’s gospel, we don’t have to go far away to follow Jesus in ministry. The needy are here in Austin. They have come to us. We can easily leave our comfort zones without leaving town. And—as Jaime Case from El Buen Samaritano reminded us last Sunday--many, many people in this parish quietly go about tending to the needy without the hoopla that foreign missions get.

Week in and week out, members of this congregation follow Jesus to minister at Safe Place, El Buen Samaritano, Casa Marinella, Habitat for Humanity, Caritas, West Austin Caregivers, in shelters, in soup kitchens, in prisons, in hospitals, in nursing homes and other places I haven’t named. They have learned how to integrate outreach ministry into their daily lives here at home. God bless all of you who do.

As we move into Lent, Father Joe and I will invite you to join us in expanding our evangelism and outreach in a variety of ways. I hope that, during that time, we will all learn more about the many causes that you all are already serving in Austin. And I hope that more of us will follow Jesus, by following you, being Christ to people right here.